Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

							21
Setting up your system
Setting up the input and output ports
Once you have selected the driver and made the settings 
as described above, you need to specify which inputs and 
outputs will be used and name these:
1.In the Device Setup dialog, select your driver in the 
Devices list on the left to display the driver settings for 
your audio hardware.
All input and output ports on the audio hardware are listed.
2.To hide a port, click in the “Visible” column for the port 
(deselecting the checkbox).
Ports that are not visible cannot be selected in the VST Connections 
window where you set up your input and output busses – see the chap
-ter “VST Connections” on page 27.
3.To rename a port, click on its name in the “Show as” 
column and type in a new name.
•It is a good idea to give your ports names that are re-
lated to the channel configuration (rather than to the ac-
tual hardware model)! 
For example, if you are using a 5.1 surround audio setup, you could name 
the six ports Left, Right, Center, Lfe, Left Surround, and Right Surround. 
This makes it easier to transfer your projects between different comput
-
ers, e.g. in different studios – if the same port names are used on both 
computers, Nuendo will automatically handle the bus connections prop-
erly when you open the project on the other computer.
4.Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog and apply 
your changes.
About monitoring
In Nuendo, monitoring means listening to the input signal 
while preparing to record or while recording. There are 
three ways to monitor:
External monitoring
External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it 
goes into Nuendo) requires an external mixer for mixing 
the audio playback with the input signal. This can be a 
classic mixing desk or a mixer application for your audio 
hardware, if this has a mode in which the input audio is 
sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct Thru” or 
similar).
Via Nuendo
In this case, the audio passes from the input into Nuendo, 
possibly through Nuendo effects and EQ and then back to 
the output. You control monitoring via settings in Nuendo.
This allows you to control the monitoring level from Nu-
endo and add effects to the monitored signal only. 
ASIO Direct Monitoring
If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may sup-
port ASIO Direct Monitoring (this feature may also be 
available for audio hardware with Mac OS X drivers). In 
this mode, the actual monitoring is done in the audio hard
-
ware, by sending the input signal back out again. How-
ever, monitoring is controlled from Nuendo. This means 
that the audio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be 
turned on or off automatically by Nuendo.
Monitoring is described in detail in the chapter “Record-
ing” on page 90. However, when setting up, there is one 
thing to note:
•If you want to use the external monitoring via your audio 
hardware, make sure that the corresponding functions are 
activated in the card’s mixer application. 
ÖIf you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio 
hardware, make sure that the pan law is set to -3
 dB in the 
card’s preferences.
!If you attempt to hide a port that is already used by a 
bus you will be asked whether this is really what you 
want – note that this will disable the port! 
						

							22
Setting up your system
Setting up MIDI
This section describes how to connect and set up MIDI 
equipment. If you have no MIDI equipment, you can skip 
this section. Note that this is only an example – you might 
need or want to hook things up differently!
Connecting the MIDI equipment
In this example we assume that you have a MIDI keyboard 
and an external MIDI sound module. The keyboard is used 
both for feeding the computer with MIDI messages for re
-
cording and for playing back MIDI tracks. The sound mod-
ule is used for playback only. Using Nuendo’s MIDI Thru 
feature (described later) you will be able to hear the cor
-
rect sound from the sound module while playing the key-
board or recording.
A typical MIDI Setup
If you want to use even more instruments for playback, sim-
ply connect MIDI Thru on the sound module to MIDI In on 
the next instrument, and so on. In this hook-up, you will al
-
ways play the first keyboard when recording. But you can 
still use all your devices for providing sounds on playback.
Setting MIDI Thru and Local On/Off
On the MIDI page in the Preferences dialog (located on 
the File menu under Windows and on the Nuendo menu 
under Mac OS X), you will find a setting called “MIDI Thru 
Active”. This is related to a setting in your instrument 
called “Local On/Off” or “Local Control On/Off”.
• If you use a MIDI keyboard instrument, as described earlier in 
this chapter, MIDI Thru should be activated and that instru
-
ment should be set to Local Off (sometimes called Local Con-
trol Off – see the instrument’s operation manual for details). 
The MIDI signal from the keyboard will be recorded in Nuendo 
and at the same time be re-routed back to the instrument so 
that you hear what you are playing, without the keyboard “trig
-
gering” its own sounds.
• If you use a separate MIDI keyboard – one that does not pro-
duce any sounds itself – MIDI Thru in Nuendo should also be 
activated, but you don’t need to look for any Local On/Off set
-
ting in your instruments.
• The only case where MIDI Thru should be deactivated is if you 
use Nuendo with only one keyboard instrument and that in
-
strument cannot be set to Local Off mode.
• MIDI Thru will be active only for MIDI tracks that are record en-
abled and/or have the Monitor button activated. See the chap-
ter “Recording” on page 90 for more information.
!Make sure that all equipment is turned off before 
making any connections!
!If you plan to use more than three sound sources, we 
recommend that you either use an interface with 
more than one output, or a separate MIDI Thru box 
instead of the Thru jacks on each unit.
When “MIDI Thru” is active in 
Nuendo, MIDI data received is 
immediately “echoed” back out.
When you press a key, it is sent out via MIDI to Nuendo.MIDI data coming in to 
the instrument is played 
by the “Synth” inside it.
When Local Control is turned on in the instrument, the keys you press 
will be played by the “Synth” inside the instrument. When Local Control 
is turned off, this connection is cut off.
“Synth” 
						

							23
Setting up your system
Setting up MIDI ports in Nuendo
The Device Setup dialog lets you set up your MIDI system 
as follows:
ÖWhen you change MIDI port settings in the Device 
Setup dialog, these are automatically applied.
Showing or hiding MIDI Ports
The MIDI ports are listed in the Device Setup dialog on the 
MIDI Port Setup page. By clicking in the “Visible” column 
for a MIDI input or output, you can specify whether or not 
it is listed on the MIDI pop-up menus in the program.
If you are trying to hide a MIDI port which is already se-
lected for a track or a MIDI device, a warning message will 
appear, allowing you to hide – and disconnect – the port 
or to cancel the operation and keep the MIDI port visible.
Setting up the “All MIDI Inputs” option
When you record MIDI in Nuendo, you can specify which 
MIDI input each recording MIDI track should use. How
-
ever, you can also select the “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option 
for an input port, which causes any MIDI data from any 
MIDI input to be recorded.
The “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option on the MIDI Port Setup 
page allows you to specify which inputs are included when 
you select All MIDI Inputs for a MIDI track. This can be es
-
pecially useful if your system provides several instances of 
the same physical MIDI input – by deactivating the dupli
-
cates you make sure only the desired MIDI data is recorded.
ÖIf you have a MIDI remote control unit connected, you 
should also make sure to deactivate the “In ‘All MIDI In
-
puts’” option for that MIDI input. This will avoid accidentally 
recording the data from the remote control when the “All 
MIDI Inputs” option is selected as input for a MIDI track.
Connecting a synchronizer
When using Nuendo with external tape transports, you will 
most likely need to add a synchronizer to your system. All 
connections and setup procedures for synchronization are 
described in the chapter 
“Synchronization” on page 496.
Setting up video
Nuendo plays back video files in a number of formats, 
such as AVI, QuickTime, or MPEG. QuickTime is used as 
playback engine. Which formats can be played back de
-
pends on the video codecs installed on your system, see 
the chapter 
“Video” on page 520.
There are several ways to play back video, e. g. without any 
special hardware, using a FireWire port, or using dedicated 
video cards, see 
“Video output devices” on page 522.
If you plan to use special video hardware, install it and set 
it up as recommended by the manufacturer.
Before you use the video hardware with Nuendo, we rec-
ommend that you test the hardware installation with the 
utility applications that came with the hardware and/or the 
QuickTime Player application.
Optimizing audio performance
This section gives you some hints and tips on how to get 
the most out of your Nuendo system, performance-wise. 
Some of this text refers to hardware properties and can be 
used as a guide when upgrading your system. This text is 
very brief. Look for details and current information on the 
Nuendo web site!
Two aspects of performance
There are two distinct aspects of performance with re-
spect to Nuendo.
Tracks and effects
Simply put: the faster your computer, the more tracks, ef-
fects and EQ you will be able to play. Exactly what consti-
tutes a “fast computer” is almost a science in itself, but 
some hints are given below.
!Make sure that all equipment is turned off before 
making any connections! 
						

							24
Setting up your system
Short response times (latency)
Another aspect of performance is response time. The term 
“latency” refers to the “buffering”, i.
 e. the temporary stor-
ing, of small chunks of audio data during various steps of 
the recording and playback process on a computer. The 
more and larger those chunks, the higher the latency.
High latency is most irritating when playing VST instru-
ments and when monitoring through the computer, i. e. 
when listening to a live audio source via the Nuendo Mixer 
and effects. However, very long latency times (several 
hundred milliseconds) can also affect other processes like 
mixing, e.
 g. when the effect of a fader movement is heard 
only after a noticeable delay.
While Direct Monitoring and other techniques reduce the 
problems associated with very long latency times, a sys
-
tem that responds fast will always be more convenient to 
work with.
•Depending on your audio hardware, it may be possible 
to “trim” your latency times, usually by lowering the size 
and the number of buffers.
For details, refer to the audio hardware documentation, or, if you are us-
ing a DirectX driver under Windows, the dialog help.
System factors that affect performance
RAM
Generally speaking, the more RAM is installed in your 
computer, the better.
This limitation is imposed by the operating system, and it 
is independent of the amount of RAM that you may have 
installed in your computer!
ÖOnly Windows 64 Bit is able to assign considerably 
more than 4
 GB of RAM to a running application.
Some program functions may “eat up” all the available 
memory, e.
 g. recording, the use of effect plug-ins, and the 
pre-loading of samples (see also 
“RAM requirements for 
recording” on page 94 and “Smart plug-in processing” on 
page 196).
Always keep in mind the RAM limitation of your operating 
system when setting up your projects.
CPU and processor cache
It goes without saying that the faster the computer proces-
sor, the better. But there are a number of factors that affect 
the apparent speed of a computer: the bus speed and type 
(PCI is strongly recommended), the processor cache size 
and of course, the processor type and brand. Nuendo relies 
heavily on floating point calculations. When shopping for a 
processor, please make sure that you get one that is pow
-
erful in calculating floating point arithmetics.
Note also that Nuendo features full support for multi-pro-
cessor systems. So, if you own a computer system with 
more than one processor, Nuendo can take advantage of 
the total capacity and evenly distribute the processing 
load to all available processors. For further information, 
see 
“The advanced options” on page 25.
Hard disk and controller
The number of hard disk tracks you can record and play 
back at the same time also depends on the speed of your 
hard disk and hard disk controller. If you use E-IDE disks 
and controllers, make sure that the transfer mode is DMA 
Busmaster. Under Windows, you can check the current 
mode by launching the Windows Device Manager and 
looking for properties of the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller’s 
primary and secondary channel. DMA transfer mode is en
-
abled by default, but may be turned off by the system 
should hardware problems occur.
!On computers running a Windows 32 Bit operating 
system, a running application can address a maxi
-
mum of 2 GB of RAM. On a Macintosh computer 
running Mac OS
 X, this limit is 4 GB.
!When a function has used up all the memory made 
available by the operating system, the computer will 
crash. 
						

							25
Setting up your system
Audio hardware and driver
The hardware and its driver can have some effect on re-
gular performance. A badly written driver can reduce the 
performance of your computer. But where the hardware 
driver design makes the most difference is with latency.
This is especially true when using Nuendo for Windows:
•Under Windows, ASIO drivers written specifically for 
the hardware are more efficient than the Generic Low La
-
tency ASIO Driver or a DirectX driver and produce shorter 
latency times.
•Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written 
Mac OS X (Core Audio) drivers can be very efficient and 
produce very low latency times.
However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO 
drivers, such as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.
Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)
To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO un-
der Windows XP (on a single-CPU system), the “system 
performance” has to be optimized for background tasks:
1.Open the Windows Control Panel from the Start menu 
and select System.
2.Select the Advanced tab and click the Settings button 
in the Performance section.
The Performance Options dialog opens.
3.Select the Advanced tab.
4.In the Processor Scheduling section, select “Adjust 
for best performance of: Background services”.
5.Click OK to close the dialogs.
Making settings that affect performance
Audio buffer settings
Audio buffers affect how audio is sent to and from the au-
dio hardware. The size of the audio buffers affects both 
the latency and the audio performance. Generally, the 
smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency. On the other 
hand, working with small buffers can be demanding for the 
computer. If the audio buffers are too small, you may get 
clicks, pops or other audio playback problems.
•Under Mac OS X, you can adjust the size of the buffers 
on the VST Audio System page in the Device Setup dia
-
log.
You may also find buffer settings in the control panel for the audio hard-ware.
•Under Windows, you adjust the buffer size settings in 
the control panel for the audio hardware (opened by click
-
ing the Control Panel button on the driver page in the De-
vice Setup dialog).
The advanced options
On the VST Audio System page you will find the “Ad-
vanced options” section. Here you find advanced settings 
for the VST Engine, including a Multi Processing option. 
When this is activated and there is more than one CPU in 
your system, the processing load is distributed evenly to 
all available CPUs, allowing Nuendo to make full use of 
the combined power of the multiple processors. See the 
dialog help for details.
About the VST Performance window
The VST Performance window is opened from the De-
vices menu. The window shows two meter displays: The 
ASIO meter, which indicates CPU load, and the Disk 
meter, which shows the hard disk transfer rate. It is rec
-
ommended that you check this from time to time, or keep it 
always open. Even if you have been able to activate a 
number of audio channels in the project without getting 
any warning, you may run into performance problems 
when adding EQ or effects.
•The ASIO meter (at the top) shows the ASIO time us-
age, i. e. the time required to complete the current pro-
cessing tasks. The more tracks, effects, EQ, etc. you use 
in your project, the longer processing will take, and the 
longer the ASIO meter will show activity.
If the overload indicator (on the far right) lights up, you need to decrease 
the number of EQ modules, active effects, and/or audio channels playing 
back simultaneously.
!Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio 
hardware for which there is a specific ASIO driver! 
						

							26
Setting up your system
•The lower bar graph shows the hard disk transfer load.
If the overload indicator (on the far right) lights up, the hard disk is not 
supplying data fast enough to the computer. You may need to reduce the 
number of tracks playing back by using the Disable Track function (see 
“About track disable/enable” on page 87). If this does not help, you need 
a faster hard disk. 
ÖThe overload indicator may occasionally blink, e. g. 
when you locate during playback. This does not indicate a 
problem, but happens because the program needs a mo
-
ment for all channels to load data for the new playback po-
sition.
ÖThe ASIO and Disk load meters can also be shown on 
the Transport panel (as “Performance”) and on the Project 
window toolbar (as “Performance Meter”). There they are 
shown as two miniature vertical meters (by default at the 
left side of the panel/toolbar). 
						

							4
VST Connections 
						

							28
VST Connections
About this chapter
This chapter focuses on the settings you can perform in 
the VST Connections window. Here you can set up input 
and output busses, group and FX channels, external ef
-
fects, and external instruments. Furthermore you can use 
this window to configure the Control Room and access 
the Control Room itself.
Since input and output busses are vital for working with 
Nuendo, a large part of this chapter concentrates on bus
-
ses and this is also the reason why you find this chapter at 
the beginning of the Operation Manual. How to use the 
busses is described in detail in the section 
“Routing” on 
page 168.
The VST Connections window
The VST Connections window is opened from the De-
vices menu. It contains the following tabs:
• The Inputs and Outputs tabs allow you to set up and configure 
input and output busses, see 
“Setting up busses” on page 28.
• The Group/FX tab allows you to create group and FX chan-
nels/tracks and to make output assignments for these, see 
“Setting up group and FX channels” on page 32. 
• The External FX tab allows you to create effect send/return bus-
ses for connecting external effects which can then be selected 
via the effect pop-up menus from inside the program. For further 
information, see 
“External instruments/effects” on page 32 and 
“Using external effects” on page 208.
• The External Instruments tab allows you to create input/output 
busses for connecting external instruments. For further informa
-
tion, see “External instruments/effects” on page 32 and the 
chapter “VST instruments and instrument tracks” on page 215.
• The Studio tab is where you enable and configure the Control 
Room, see 
“VST Connections – Studio tab” on page 181.
Setting up busses
Nuendo uses a system of input and output busses to trans-
fer audio between the program and the audio hardware.
• Input busses let you route audio from the inputs on your audio 
hardware into the program. This means that when you record 
audio, you will always do this through one or several input 
busses.
• Output busses let you route audio from the program to the 
outputs on your audio hardware. When you play back audio, 
you will always do this through one or several output busses.
Once you understand the bus system and know how to 
set up the busses properly, it will be easy to go on with 
recording, playing back, mixing, and doing surround work.
Strategies
You can create any number of busses in Nuendo, in virtu-
ally any channel configuration – mono, stereo or a number 
of surround formats.
ÖThe bus configuration is saved with the project – 
therefore it is a good idea to add and set up the busses 
you need and save these in a template project (see 
“Save 
as Template” on page 53).
When you start working on new projects, you start from 
this template. That way you get your standard bus config
-
uration without having to make new bus settings for each 
new project. If you need to work with different bus config
-
urations in different projects, you can either create several 
different templates or store your configurations as presets 
(see 
“Presets” on page 31). The templates can of course 
also contain other settings that you regularly use – sample 
rate, record format, a basic track layout, etc.
So, which type of busses do you need? This depends on 
your audio hardware, your general audio setup (e.
 g. sur-
round speaker setup) and what kind of projects you work 
with. 
						

							29
VST Connections
Let’s say you are using audio hardware with eight analog 
inputs and outputs and digital stereo connections (10 in
-
puts and outputs all in all). Furthermore, you work with a 
surround setup in 5.1 format. In this scenario, you may 
want to add the following busses:
Input busses
• Most likely you need at least one stereo input bus assigned to 
an analog input pair. This will let you record stereo material. If 
you want to be able to record in stereo from other analog input 
pairs as well, you add stereo input busses for these, too.
• Although you can record mono tracks from one side of a ste-
reo input, it may be a good idea to add a dedicated mono in-
put bus. This can be assigned to an analog input to which you 
have connected a dedicated microphone pre-amp, for exam
-
ple. Again, you can have several different mono busses.
• You probably want a dedicated stereo input bus assigned to 
the digital stereo input, for digital transfers.
• If you want to transfer surround material directly to a surround 
track, e.
 g. from surround-configured location recording equip-
ment, you need an input bus in that surround format – in this 
example, this will be a 5.1 input bus.
Output busses
• You will need one or several stereo output busses for routing 
stereo mixes to master recorders or other destinations.
• For digital transfers, you need a stereo bus assigned to a dig-
ital stereo output as well.
• You need a surround bus in the format of your speaker config-
uration (in this example, 5.1) assigned to the correct outputs. 
Only connect these outputs to the corresponding speakers if 
you are not using the Control Room (see the chapter 
“Control 
Room” on page 179). You may want additional surround bus-
ses if you tend to work in different surround formats.
Preparations
Before you set up busses, you should name the inputs and 
outputs on your audio hardware. For example, if you are us
-
ing a 5.1 surround speaker setup, you should name the out-
puts according to which speaker they are connected to 
(Left, Right, Center, and so on). 
The reason for this is compatibility – it makes it easier to 
transfer projects between different computers and setups. 
For example, if you move your project to another studio, 
the audio hardware may be of a different model. But if 
both you and the other studio owner have given your in
-
puts and outputs names according to the surround setup 
(rather than names based on the audio hardware model), 
Nuendo will automatically find the correct inputs and out
-
puts for your busses and you will be able to play and 
record without having to change the settings.
To assign names to the inputs and outputs of your audio 
hardware, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2.On the VST Audio System page, make sure that the 
correct driver for your audio hardware is selected.
If this is the case, your audio card is listed in the Devices list on the left of 
the Device Setup window.
3.In the Devices list, select your audio card.
The available input and output ports on your audio hardware are listed on 
the right.
4.To rename a port, click on its name in the Show As 
column and enter a new name.
•If needed, you can also disable ports by deactivating 
them in the Visible column.
Disabled ports are not shown in the VST Connections window. If you at-
tempt to disable a port that is used by a bus, you will be asked whether this 
is really what you want – note that this will remove the port from the bus!
5.Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog.
ÖIf you open a project created on another computer and 
the port names do not match (or the port configuration is 
not the same – e.
 g. the project is created on a system 
with multi-channel i/o and you open it on a stereo in/out 
system), the Missing Ports dialog will appear. This allows 
you to manually re-route ports used in the project to ports 
available in your system.
!Different busses can use the same inputs/outputs on 
the audio hardware! For example, you may want a 
stereo output bus assigned to the same outputs as 
the front stereo channels in your surround bus – this 
enables you to listen to stereo mixes without having 
to reconnect your speakers. 
						

							30
VST Connections
Mac OS X only: Retrieving channel names
For some audio cards, you can automatically retrieve the 
ASIO channel names for the ports of your audio hardware. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog via the Devices menu.
2.On the VST Audio System page, select your audio 
card on the ASIO Driver pop-up menu.
3.In the Devices list on the left, select your audio card.
The available settings are displayed.
4.In the settings section on the right, click the Control 
Panel button.
5.In the control panel for your audio hardware, activate 
the “Use CoreAudio Channel Names” option.
6.When you now open the VST Connections window to 
set up the busses in your system, you will find that the port 
names in the Device Port column correspond to the 
names that are used by the CoreAudio driver.
ÖIf you want to use the project later on with an earlier 
version of Nuendo, you will have to re-assign the port con
-
nections in the VST Connections window (see below).
Mac OS X only: Port selection and activation
On the settings page for your audio card (opened via the 
Device Setup dialog, see above), you can specify which 
input and output ports are active. This allows you to use 
the Microphone input instead of the Line input or even to 
deactivate the audio card input or output completely, if re
-
quired.
ÖThis function is only available for Built-In Audio, stan-
dard USB audio devices and a certain number of other 
audio cards (e.
 g. Pinnacle CineWave).
Adding input and output busses
Depending on whether you have selected the Inputs or the 
Outputs tab in the VST Connections window, the corre
-
sponding busses are listed, with the following information:
To add an input or output bus, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on the type 
of bus that you want to add.
2.Click the Add Bus button.
A dialog opens.
3.Select a (channel) configuration.
The Configuration pop-up menu contains a Mono and a Stereo option as 
well as several surround formats. Additional surround formats are listed 
on the “More…” submenu. 
•Alternatively, you can right-click in the VST Connections 
window and add a bus in the desired format directly from 
the context menu.
The new bus appears with the ports visible.
4.For each of the speaker channels in the bus, click in 
the Device Port column to select a port on your audio 
hardware.
The pop-up menu that opens lists the ports with the names you have as-
signed in the Device Setup dialog.
ColumnDescription
Bus NameLists the busses. You can select and rename busses by 
clicking on them in this column.
SpeakersIndicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo, sur-round formats) of each bus.
Audio DeviceThis shows the currently selected ASIO driver.
Device PortIf a bus entry is expanded to show all speaker channels, 
this column shows which physical inputs/outputs on your 
audio hardware are used by the bus. If the bus entry is col
-lapsed, only the first port used by this bus is visible here.
Click (Outputs 
tab only)You can route the click to a specific output bus, regard-less of the actual Control Room output, or even when the 
Control Room is disabled.